| Taito published the Famicom version itself: its manual opens by thanking the buyer for Taito's Family Computer software Arkanoid, and its back page carries Taito's 1986 copyright. | PDF p. 2, openingPDF p. 16, warranty card | Manual |
| The Famicom manual describes two ways to play. On the special controller, which plugs into the Famicom's expansion connector, the knob moves the player's craft left and right and the button launches the ball or fires the laser; on the standard controller, the cross-pad moves the craft and the A button launches the ball or fires the laser. While the special controller is connected, the standard controller can't play. Start pauses the game. | PDF p. 4PDF p. 4PDF p. 5, using the special controllerPDF p. 5, using the special controllerPDF p. 5PDF p. 4 | Manual |
| In the Famicom manual's story, people driven by war from an Earth-like planet travel the galaxy in the photon-powered mothership Arkanoid. Small fighters attack it, and the spacecraft Vaus, flying off to chase the enemy and find out what it is, is instead trapped in the enemy's other-dimensional labyrinth. To return to the Arkanoid, the Vaus has to defeat the dimensional fortress DOH. | PDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, storyPDF p. 6, story | Manual |
| In the Famicom manual, the player steers the Vaus to destroy every block of each round's space wall with the energy ball. Besides normal blocks there are silver hard blocks, which take several hits, and gold immortality blocks, which can't be destroyed. A hard block takes two hits in rounds 1 to 8, three in rounds 9 to 16, four in rounds 17 to 24, and five in rounds 25 to 32, and scores 50 points times the round number; every enemy scores 100. There are 33 rounds, and in the last the player must hit the great fortress 16 times with the energy ball while dodging its shots. The game ends when every Vaus is lost, or when the last round is cleared. | PDF p. 7PDF p. 7PDF p. 7PDF p. 7PDF p. 8, hard wall tablePDF p. 8, hard wall tablePDF p. 8, hard wall tablePDF p. 8PDF p. 8PDF p. 8PDF p. 8, hard wall tablePDF p. 8 | Manual |
| In the Famicom manual, power-up items hidden in the wall give powers by color: orange slows the energy ball, green catches it so the button can launch it, and blue makes the Vaus one and a half times as long. Aqua blue splits the ball into three, pink opens an exit at the right edge that clears the round, red fires laser beams with the button, and gray adds a Vaus. Taking another item cancels the one before, and the manual advises not leaving through an open exit until only one or two blocks remain, since the remaining blocks' points are not added. | PDF p. 10, itemsPDF p. 10, itemsPDF p. 10, itemsPDF p. 10, itemsPDF p. 11, itemsPDF p. 11, itemsPDF p. 11, itemsPDF p. 11, itemsPDF p. 12, one-point advicePDF p. 12, one-point advice | Manual |
| The Famicom manual names four enemy characters, Slander, Mechanimal, Forgot, and Opopo, and the dimensional fortress DOH, glossed ダミネート・オーバー・アワー (Daminēto Ōbā Awā), which appears in the last round, round 33. | PDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, charactersPDF p. 9, characters | Manual |
| The Famicom manual's round select: pressing Start and the A button together as the game starts lets a player skip ahead to any round from 1 to 16. | PDF p. 13, round selectPDF p. 13, round select | Manual |